Do AISG Students Have Social Lives?

Part of the clichéd high school experience is going out with your friends and having fun during weekends. There’s a stereotype of high school students that only spend their time enjoying themselves instead of focusing on academics. From my experience at AISG, these types of people aren’t really common at our school. Some might believe that it might be better that those type of people aren’t present as they can lower GPA grade averages and negatively influence other students. Still, in a way, students could benefit from a less extreme version of these stereotypical popular kids as it could help them have a looser outlook on high school.

For some students, not having these types of people at school causes their high school experience to become rather dull. A Western student agrees with this as she states that most students are “just obsessed with graduating and getting the perfect scores”, which causes them to “forget to do the other social part of high school.” In comparison to the US, some students at AISG don’t spend much time socializing or on leisure. In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average number of hours per day that a US citizen between the ages of 15 and 19 spends on leisure is 5.13 hours, while most of the people interviewed stated that they spend 2 hours a day, apart from one, who stated that he spends 5 hours daily “watching Youtube videos.” Although this difference might be due to another factor such as a difference in the amount of homework received, some students still state that they prefer “staying at home on a busy week” and many state that they spend most of their free time at home.

Besides having time for friends, clubbing can also be seen as a component of the person with the “perfect” social life. Some people believe that clubbing harms you in some ways and can come with a certain level of burden in regards to your academic reputation, such as how a senior student explains that “many people believe that going out clubbing means that you are going out to get drunk too, and this is not always the case.” Instead, there are others that think that it can help you loosen up. One student stated that she goes “because [she] really likes to dance and its a chance to dress up and have fun with your friends.” Then there are others who are mostly indifferent and “would rather go drinking at a bar instead of going clubbing.” This judgement might have arisen based on how many people believe that going out clubbing is correlated with getting bad grades. In fact, a ninth grader stated that the people that do tend to go out “get B’s and C’s.”

Compared to other schools around the world, AISG students do not have much social contact with one another. A student even stated that once, she asked her friends to go watch a movie and “they all came up with dumb excuses” so she was forced to go to the movies with her dad. These excuses might have been valid, but they indicate how AISG students don’t really put much effort into spending time with their friends. From my experience, this seems to only occur at AISG as from what I recall from my past experience at various schools in Rome, people had the tendency to spend more time with their friends, even if it was just hanging out at home. This did not even have anything to do with academics because the level of difficulty can be considered the same as here or even more difficult. In fact, I have a friend in Rome that has an IB 42 prediction and goes out with friends to the movies, bars, and restaurants at least once a week. Others who have had experiences at other schools say that it is because there are overall “different social standards and environment”, as one Korean students puts it.

Students also agree that besides not having social lives in general, people at AISG aren’t prone to dating in comparison to other schools around the world. This might not be a defining factor for the AISG-having-a-social-life debate but it surely contributes to it. People that date are more prone to leaving the house and spending their time with their significant other. Many people also do not date at AISG because their parents prefer them not to, as it might lead to distractions. Based on the people that were interviewed, though, most people did not believe that this was the main issue. In fact, according to a junior, “there’s a barrier at AISG where the guys just sit with the guys and the girls just sit with the girls.” This is quite indicative of how AISG’s high school has remained in that elementary school rut where students hang out exclusively with people of the same gender.

Maybe these trends of social discomfort are not on only seen at AISG, but around the world as we become more accustomed to interacting through devices. Recently, teenagers all around the world are delaying dating, alcohol, drugs, and sex. This might be seen as an improvement in global society, but it just might be an indication of teenagers having less social confidence and being less comfortable to interact with others. This could be due to advances in technology; but could it also be because of an increased concern among parents about safety, or is it something else?

It’s clear that at AISG, most people don’t believe that leaving the house to hang out with friends is a necessary way to have fun. Many people agree that AISG’s social life is lacking and “is healthy, but extremely dull.” Most people would rather spend their weekends at home sleeping than going to the movies with friends. This might be seen as a problem by the people who prefer going out, as most of their friends and peers would rather stay home. So what do you think students should do? Leave a comment below!

Also, if you want to read in more depth about alcohol use at AISG and its effect on our social community, read Alex’s article.